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6 questions of "Artist Featured" of Exto

On January 15, 2023 I had an Interview with Exto for their Artist Featured section. Exto is an online community for visual artists and art lovers.

They asked me the following 6 questions about me and my art:
1. How did you come into contact with your way of working?
2. What is the story behind the painting Voyagers?
3. Who or what inspires you in your work?
4. Which of your works has a special meaning for you and why?
5. How would you describe your technique?
6. What does art mean to you?

How did you come into contact with your way of working?

Creativity with painting runs in the family. My mother painted landscapes. But figurative painting has never been my preference. So quit early I went my own way with Abstract painting. Initially completely 2D, but in recent years I have been applying more and more materials and 3D-structures to give the painting physical depth in addition to optical depth. I like to experiment with materials and techniques in my artworks, mainly in a self-taught way, sometimes through a workshop with a fellow artist. It always surprises me that there is no end to the continuous use of new materials and techniques to create beautiful art.

Who or what inspires you in your work?

My sources of inspiration are endless, I have more inspiration than I can make paintings. I get a lot of inspiration from scientific articles about medical developments, the cosmos and its many mysteries, nature -beautiful in all its seasons-, people and what they do.

Sometimes I can get very emotional with an inspiration, for example the sensation of a kiss, and I want this to be reflected in the dynamics, choice of colour and shapes in the painting.

Sometimes I am also effected by sad events around me; like the terrible war in Ukraine. Because I don't want to paint this black desolation, but still want to make a Statement on it, I consciously choose the exact opposite: positive, beautiful things in life, and then let them inspire me.

What is the story behind the painting Voyagers?

This work is a 2-part that I was commissioned to make. The clients were strangers to me and I always spend extra time getting to know them and their art preferences. After 2 visits I had a good idea of what they were looking for. Art in vibrant colours that had to impress, an eye-catcher when you enter the living. Wall art that says something about them, who they are; their Statement Art.

They had travelled a lot (“voyagers”) and had just come to live in the Netherlands. The stories about their travels, where they had been and what they had seen, were the inspiration for this painting.

As a wink, I had hidden their names in the painting, so that the artwork became even more personal. Something fun that added extra to the story of their personal artwork.

How would you describe your technique?

Creating art is an outlet for me. A way to represent my perception of what I see, hear and feel. In smoothly connected shapes and colours, dynamic, wild or very harmonious. With art I sometimes want to make a statement, but never express it grimly.

My art must remain beautiful and vibrant. Especially if my abstract art is to become someone else's Statement Art.

I feel a strong connection with many of my paintings. I often only notice this when such a painting is getting sold. It feels like I have to give up something I love and it makes me feel a little sad. But it leaves me with a feeling of satisfaction as well. Satisfaction and pride when I see it hanging at the home of the new owner.

A recent work that I enjoyed working on was “Interstellar travels”. Inspired by the many things I don't understand, and cannot comprehend. Realizing my limitations. But also the realization of the enjoyment of a rich fantasy with which I can make Art.

... And a bit challenged by my wife to make a painting in black and white only, accompanied by a gold colour.

In recent years I have been working as an abstract painter entirely in mixed media, with acrylic paint as a base. All my paintings are made up of layers, sometimes up to 9 layers. Each layer contributes to the total; a shape in paint that becomes a translucent background, a texture that is unobtrusive in the artwork, sometimes with a shadow effect, emphatically present structures in paste, acrylic pools that (partially) weaken structures, grains of sand or grid to strengthen the focal points, spray-paint and acrylic layers to connect the whole. And then sometimes accentuation with mother-of-pearl paint, metallic paint or epoxy. With the last layer, always being a liquid varnish.

I try to emphatically avoid realistic forms in my art works. I find it all the more striking that usually one of the first comments of a visitor is “hey, I see a … in the painting”. Like a dancer in the painting “Interstellar travels”.